Random 1900 Follower Giveaway!

I'm in-between book releases right now, so I don't really have anything sparkling and new to show you all. Yet. We're slowly inching to the release of Unwanted on July 30th, and then later on the first novella to A Shard of Ice, titled An Ice Princess Heart, releases October 28th.

Sooooo while I continue to stare at my screen and slowly go blind, I figured there might as well be a little happy giveaway of some sort when my Facebook hit 1900 peeps. We're sitting pretty at 1906 now, so dun dun dun dunnnnn, crack out the burritos and sour cream, I've got goodies for you guys and gals to win!

Here's the goodie list:

(2) Two delicious swag bags with signed bookmarks of Illumine, Obumbrate, Riven, and A Shard of Ice

(1) Mini-heart pendant replica of Essallie's white heart from the Illumine Series

Ready, set, go!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GAMES OF FIRE Cover Reveal!

Oh, squee! It's another cover reveal, ladies and gents! 

But this time, it's from a loving friend of mine, and fellow author, Airicka Phoenix! Let's show this lovely author some love (lovely, love, I need to invest in a bigger vocabulary box).

Ahem.

I present to you... -drumroll- 

GAMES OF FIRE!

Title: Games of Fire
Author: Airicka Phoenix
Publisher: Self-Published
Release date: February 14, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Action, Suspense, Mystery, Romance
Warnings: None
Formats: ebook, paperback
Goodreads: Add to your TBR list!


Synopsis:

Sophie has enough problems in her life without Spencer turning her blood to fire, without his eyes freezing and burning her, without his hatred of her. Since his migration into the house next to hers, Sophia Valdez isn’t sure whether she wants to toss him under a bus or kiss that smirking mouth of his.

But even as the temperature rises around them, leaping flames of passion, want and desire, everything either has ever known will be shattered by the lurking shadow hounding their every step, wanting revenge.

Spencer Rowth moves to the sleepy town of River Port with his mother and twelve year old sister, Suzy, to escape a deceitful father, an unfaithful girlfriend and a life crumbling much too fast for him to grapple onto only to be smacked upside the head by the last thing he wanted again. Sophie was everything he refused to want. Her temper, her wit, her laugh, her smile, the way her entire body goes up in flames under his hands are things he would rather slam a lid on and forget. Instead, he finds himself falling for the smart-mouth next door. But how long will he have before the evil chasing them catches up? How long before the very thing he never wanted becomes his only thread to sanity? And who is after them?

What do they want and why do they want Spencer and Sophie dead?

Other Novels by Airicka Phoenix:

~ Touching Smoke (Touch Series, book 1) 
~ Whispered Beginnings: A Clever Fiction Anthology 
 ~ Midnight Surrender Anthology 

Social Networks:

Facebook! - Twitter! - Goodreads! - Author Website!

Teaser to GAMES OF FIRE:

“I hope that’s the last of our unlucky streak.”

Sophie couldn’t agree more, but something in the air, a chill, coiled around her, sinking razor sharp talons into her flesh. It trickled venom through her veins, paralyzing all hopes that tomorrow would be better. Truthfully, how could it be when the person responsible was still out there? What if they came back? What if they tried again? What if they did it to someone else?

No. Sophie had no delusions that it would be better tomorrow. She wasn’t fooled by the temporary calm. Two incidents simultaneously? Maybe the police didn’t spot the link, but she wasn’t so lucky nor could she rule out that possibility that Spencer was the center of it all.

Author Bio:

Airicka Phoenix is the author of TOUCHING SMOKE (Touch Book #1), TOUCHING ETERNITY (Touch 1.5), TORRID, a short story as part of the Whispered Beginnings: A Clever Fiction Anthology and WANTING & INTENTIONS, two stories as part of the Midnight Surrender Anthology. 

When she's not hammering away at the keyboard, she can be found banishing pirates or crawling through the attic looking for lost treasure with her kids. She loves baking, gardening and reading. She also likes to travel and take pictures of everything she comes across. When asked, Airicka describes herself as a sarcastic basket case that has an unhealthy addiction to chocolate, old movies and really bad jokes. She loves to laugh, make friends and write. If she could have one wish granted, it would be to spend one day as a fly-on-the-wall inside Stephen King's mind. If she could have two wishes granted, she would ask for a castle dedicated entirely to her overwhelming collection of books.

Illumine Nominated For BEST YA COVER Of 2012!

Uhm. Excuse me while I scream and squeal pure joy.

AHHHHHHHHH!

Earlier today I got the news that Illumine was nominated for BEST YA COVER of 2012 on Goodreads! Holy crap! Sweet ripened bananas, how cool is this?

Even better part? If you have a Facebook or Goodreads account, you can vote for Illumine, too! Just click the ever-so-gorgeous cover below, find it on the list and hit 'vote for this book'! Easy, right? Right. Easier than petting a unicorn. Or eating one. I've always imagined unicorn meat to be on the chewy side.

Anyway, click! And THANK YOU to those who have voted for Illumine already! You know light up my world like no body else. ;)

FEED YOUR READER Giveaway Hop!

That's right! It's another wicked giveaway hop! This one is rather straightforward. An ebook only giveaway meant to give all those with Kindles, Nooks, iPads, etc. a chance to catch some awesome ebooks for reading! Umm, sounds delicious to me.

So here's the giveaway items! Yes, ITEMS. I'm spreading the love further than butter across hot toast. 

One (1) of you peeps will win a digital copy of ILLUMINE

One (1) of you peeps will win a digital copy of OBUMBRATE

And don't forget- there's a whole bunch of us on this hop! So, make like a bunny and hop about and enter the rest! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

#WhoIsLilix?

Do you think you know who Lilix is? 

So earlier today while I was slumming it out at work, you know doing the usual chew-on-pen-caps and sell stuff routine, I had a little thought bubble visit me. Yet again, it’s about Lilix. My mind cannot stop infatuating about writing her story. I can’t take down enough notes, scribble on enough paper, graphically design enough kick ass promo material to satisfy what I am officially calling Lilix Disease. I even said OML (Oh My Lilix) at work today, for crying out loud. 

WOMAN, GET OUT OF MY HEAD. I HAVE OTHER THINGS TO WRITE. 

It’s so weird, it’s like this freaky love-hate relationship thing with her. I’m in love at the fact that I can still after roughly 6-7+ years pull her out of my brain like pulling my phone out of my back pocket, and almost physically hear her talk to me, tell me her stories. 

But then it sort of dawned on me that no one else really knows what the hell I’m talking about. Kind of like putting a Chinese native and French native in the same room and letting them figure out how to give each other directions to Pizza Hut. It’s just one big clusterchunk of whaaaaaaat?

So in light of my dawning knowledge that yes, no one knows who the heck this girl is and all she can do, I’m tasking you with a challenge. Either on Tumblr or Twitter, post your thoughts on what, or who, you think Lilix is. Maybe she’s an alien, and I’m totally writing a Mars sci-fi story. Maybe she’s a siren and freezes water and that’s why the first book is called A Shard of Ice. Or maybe I’m just tossing you these bizarre red herrings to get your minds moving on the idea. Either way, share your thoughts with me, and don’t forget to use #whoislilix with them so I can find/see them! 

Happy #ObumbrateDay!

OH SQUEEEEEEEE! It's finally here, guys! Six months in the making and IT'S FINALLY HERE AND I CAN'T THINK PAST THESE WORDS SO I'LL SAY IT AGAIN- IT'S HERE!


There aren't words to describe how excited I am for today. Really, there aren't. But if I could tone down today's awesomeness of Obumbrate's release, it would use words like 'awesome' and 'superfragalisticexpialadocious'. I have no idea if I spelled that right. 


So in case you've been living under a ROCK for the last few weeks, here's the run down! The second book to TIS, Obumbrate, is out and available! That means you can grab a copy, scarf it down like Mera did for Mera's YA Book Blog, snag a digital copy on Amazon or B&N, or you know, pick up a signed copy here on the blog! There's all kinds of good things going on today! 


Like what? I'm so glad you asked that! 


Boosh! There's a Facebook event running all day! Or better yet, a massive Rafflecopter Giveaway!  


If that isn't tickling your fancy, Goodreads is still running the giveaway for Obumbrate, too! 


And if none of those fulfill your insatiable need to chat about #TeamEssallie or #TeamKayden or #TeamAri, hit up Twitter! #ObumbrateDay is the code-word, ladies and gents! 


This entire day is going to be nothing but shenanigans, shenanigans, and maybe some SHENANIGANS WITH CUPCAKES. And music. And posted excerpts all day. And probably soda. But not fish, Essallie hates fish. 


Come on! Let's get this party ROLLING! 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Multi-Tasking As An Author (Or Crazy Person)

First things first, Happy Independence Day!  

Here's a photo of cake (that I didn't make, boo) that will probably make you very hungry. And have the urge to bake. Or maybe that's just me. 

(source lovefromtheoven)

So earlier this week I had a mini revelation, and I knew I had to share it with all of you. 

Multi-tasking. Is. Ridiculous. 

We're inching closer (and closer, and closer) to Friday, aka #ObumbrateDay (you can sign up to attend the online event on Facebook here or just Twitter hashtag #ObumbrateDay), or as I like to call it, The Day I Spend More Time Staring At Amazon Than Any Other Day of The Year. Between working a 12-hour shift at my day job, I'll be slamming the internet like a giddy author, happily posting quotes and answering questions and doing flash giveaways all day. 

But until that day actually comes, I've been doing a mountain of prep behind the scenes! Designing t-shirts, formatting the digital version of Obumbrate for Kindle/Nook/iBooks, completing paperback and hardback designs, promo items, bookmarks, I could list this stuff all day. I'm also pretty sure that if I wasn't so twitchy about being hands-on with my projects, I could have someone do some of this stuff for me and reduce the work load, but honestly where is the fun in that? 

But back to topic. Multi-tasking is a miserable feat, and one that, if conquered, I tip my hat to you. I've only barely managed to juggle work, family, friends, and all the little things in-between and maybe catch my breath along the way. Example, my Monday kind of went like this: 

9AM- Up. Acknowledge that the dishes did not magically finish themselves last night. Inwardly sob. 

9:30AM- Receive email from CreateSpace, kindly informing me my cover was rejected because one of the E's was toeing the red line. Promptly rage. 

10AM-2PM- Re-do cover. Get distracted along the way with imgur. Curse those cat photos. 

2-4PM- Oh hey, those dishes still haven't finished themselves! And they're... growing. 

4-8PM- Head over to friend's house for a few hours. Insert random stop at Starbucks and B&N.  

8PM-3AM- Can't sleep, so let's do more graphic design! 

Rinse and repeat for two days. Only add more later. 

In hindsight, this doesn't look that bad. But something about trying to make a photo look good and accepting it in the end is impossible. 

Oh, speaking of! If you've been lurking around Goodreads, you've probably seen the new cover for Illumine. Surprise! If not, as a 4th of July and early #ObumbrateDay treat, here's the cover.

Special Updates On TIS!

Hey everyone! 


I know it's been a little bit since I've done a full-fledged dedicated post, so I kind of need to cram you all with a huge overload of updates and information and myth dispellers (curse those Mythers!) on a whole bunch of stuff going. Super promise it won't be heavy on the brain. 


1- Obumbrate is still locked for its July 7th release. This hasn't changed! What HAS changed is where the online festivities will be taking place to celebrate. Originally, I had planned a Facebook party on several pages, but with Facebook's new fan page promotion policies, I can't unless I risk having the pages removed. 


So we're going to make this super-easy and super-fun by simply making a Twitter party! All day on July 7th, use the hashtag #obumbrateday in your tweets, and you're in! I'll be posting from my user @aliviaanders and doing a series of flash giveaways including signed bookmarks, a couple signed paperbacks, and even some other sweet swag! Trust me, you do NOT want to miss this! 


2- I am trying, desperately, to include a snippet of my next book, Unwanted, which is slated for a tentative Summer 2013 release. BUT I may not make the cut in time to include it. I may, however, have the ability to include a snippet of A Shard of Ice in the back, which is something I've been carefully working on and is slated for a Winter 2013 release. 


3- The cover for A Shard of Ice is NOT the final cover. It's been dancing around online and a couple of people asked me if it was the final cover, but sadly, it isn't. I won't know the final cover of ASoI until this fall/winter. But, in case you haven't seen what I'm talking about, here's the idea of the cover I've been tinkering with: 

(credit to istockphoto for the, uh, stock.)

That's all she wrote for the moment, but until my next post (which is for a MEGA giveaway hop I'm in that goes up in... 2 hours) see you all soon! 

Biggest TIS Fan Contest!

Can you believe it? Only 57 days left until OBUMBRATE is released! Don't know about you guys, but I'm chewing off all my nails and freaking out by ODing on coffee as the day grows closer. 


Since announcing the date, you've seen the cover, you've read sneak peeks of the continuing tumultuous relationship between Essallie and Kayden, and you've probably twisted your mind around the mystery of Ari. So while you wait for the days to pass by, why not join in on the fun going on at my Facebook fan page? 


Right now, and until the 17th of May, if you head on over to my Facebook page and tell me why you're the biggest TIS fan, you could win a signed copy of Obumbrate when it releases! Um, hello? How cool is that? 


Meanwhile, if you haven't grabbed your paperback copy of Illumine yet, this is a heads up. Illumine will be getting a new cover come this July, probably right around the time Obumbrate is released. So if you're digging the whole 'indie cover' look, snatch your copy before the new cover rolls in. Or, you know, wait for the new cover and see if you love that one more. Either way, I promise the new one will be just as beautiful, if not more so. 

Free Book and Mega Giveaway!

Ever feel like there aren't enough hours in the day? I'm kind of in that boat right now. I'm going to post a short little update on the wildness in my life, but tomorrow I swear on my soul I will be posting a detailed, marvelous post on the giant event next week called ILLUMINE'S WISH. However, until then, here's my crazy list. 

- ILLUMINE, in ebook format, is FREE for the next 48. Yes, hours. Yes, I am crazy. Please download it, share it, be my knight in golden armor and run around your neighborhood proclaiming it. And give them this link!

- OBUMBRATE,  book two, finally has a cover! It will be revealed in all its glory on APRIL 20TH! I'm very proud of this, and I can very confidently say it's some of my best graphic design work. 

- LIMITED EDITION OBUMBRATE BOOKMARKS are up for grabs on FACEBOOK PAGE! All YOU have to do is get that page up to 400 likes and then I'll hold a huge drawing for them! 

- Tonight I will be at a charity event supporting a local hospital's burn unit, and while I'm selling my books there for donations, I figured I could extend the favor to my fans who aren't in the immediate area as well. So if you purchase a SIGNED COPY (right hand side of the screen) before 8PM EST, I'll donate 30% for each one bought. It's a kickass cause, and I'm proud to do this! Here's the Facebook page event about the charity hosting tonight!

- I'm pretty sure in the next month or so, not only will I have TIS website up and ready to run (THEILLUMINESERIES.COM) but I will open a cute little tab here offering some neat things like posters, bookmarks, t-shirts, all strictly made by me and my madness at home. Yay! 

- And lastly, if you can't keep your pants on for July to get a copy of OBUMBRATE, you are in luck! Tomorrow I will unveil just how you can get one of TEN, yes ten, ARCS of OBUMBRATE! MEGA YAY!! 

So until tomorrow, stay crazy, keep your eyes glued to my blog and remember, spinach is not very delicious on ice cream. Not that I know anything about this. 

Things I Try To Remember, But Never Do

We all get a little scatterbrained at times. As people, it's totally normal. In fact, if you don't have a moment of "What the heck was I doing?" in your life, I'm going to say you're probably a robot, and hopefully you come in peace and won't destroy our world a-la evil Transformers style.

This could get ugly.

If you've ever asked a writer some of the things they haven't done yet, but probably should have, they'd most likely give you a look reminding you of Filch's petrified cat in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We're writers- we're not supposed to forget things, especially things like important plot points or hair colors of characters or how many times we ran the wash cycle on the washer for the same load of clothes. But usually we're clustered, forgetful of appointments or dates or meetings with friends, occasionally forget the USB drive at the printer shop, and if we ate that day. Or yesterday. Or maybe last week. I essentially discovered just how bad my forgetfulness was while I was hunched over my lovely tomato basil soup from Cosi, which is delicious by the way, and thought that I'd share some of the biggest things I tend to forget.

1- Did I charge my phone/ipad/MP3 player/thing of usual importance the time I forget to charge it?
This is my most common culprit. You know how it goes- you're setting up to write all la-de-da, and next thing you know BAM. It smacks you in the head you forgot to charge the thing you need most! How the heck can you write when your ipad is dead?

2- Commenting and liking ALL THE THINGS on Facebook. Also counts for RTing ALL THE THINGS on Twitter. 
 Yes. I like your post. I also will go down my news feed and like, well, pretty much everything I find remotely interesting. Twitter? Same thing, only they call it re-tweeting (RTing). After a day or two of relative inactivity I will actually go back through half of the day and freakishly comment on just about everything I can find something to say about. This is called spamming. I am lame.

3- Not commenting back on reviews (for the most part).
I'm still trying to understand why this is such a faux pas, like say when the review is good. Usually I'll see a review and say aloud, "SQUEE! LOOK, NEW HAPPY REVIEW!" And then proceed to type that out and hit send. Somehow, this is wrong. Because nine times out of ten if I do that, all comments afterwards NEVER HAPPEN. And then I feel like I totally did that, and crawl into a hole where I write all the depressing parts of my books because I am a depressing soul.

4- Did I put pants on? 
Yoga pants do not count. Sweatpants don't count, either.

5- Blogging regularly? HAH. 
Remember my little vow to routinely blog early on in the year? Yes, I've remained consistent that I'm still posting (most because I love writing blog posts, it's like an open invitation to show you guys my brain and just how bonkers I absolutely am (the Hatter and I would get along VERY well)) but I'm still trying to learn the whole 'blog on this day and that day EVERY WEEK, ALIVIA.' I can't do that! Well, I could, but that would mean scheduling posts and losing the spontaneous weirdness and all the fun things that make me absolutely batty. So yeah.



Speaking of, I totally forgot to refill my cup of soda. Crap.



Is there anything you try to remember to do?

The Lunar Blog Hop Giveaway!

Oh my! Sorry this is going up late!

Alright, so who's ready to get their hands on a copy of Illumine?! I've got a beautiful paperback copy of Illumine right here for you- all you have to do is enter in the giveaway! That's right- I'm participating in my first Blogger Hop giveaway- namely the Lunar Blog Hop!

So what do you have to do to enter in the giveaway? Oh, that's easy. Ready? Read the Raflecopter below and "like" my author page on Facebook! Easy peasy. The list below the Raflecopter will list other blogs in this HUGE giveaway- so 'hop' from each blog and enter to win other awesome prizes!

*Please note, my giveaway is only for US residents this time around. But I'll be hosting an international giveaway in April, so check back then!

It's Launch Party Time, Baby!

Hi everyone! 

Okay, so, two things I have to post about real quick! 

ONE!!

If you haven't joined in on the fun on Facebook right now for the Launch Party- don't fret - it's still going on right now!

Meet The Facebook Shenanigans Here!

TWO! 

Remember the second vlog I promised?! Here you are! 

ILLUMINE'S Official Launch Party!

So right now it's 6:40PM EST. That means there's only... 5 hours and 20 minutes until the Official Launch Party for Illumine starts. Ummmm, WHERE DID MY WEEK GO? 

As of right now, there's just under 100 people signed up to partake in the Facebook event. I'm going to make sure that this is going to be one of those things that whoever comes to it, is never going to forget it. I've already promised cake, sneak peek book info for OBUMBRATE, a couple super-personal giveaways, some promos for other authors, the whole nine yards! One of my friends once said that when I do something, I either put no effort into it at all, or I go balls to the wall. 

This would be the latter, not the former. 

So what should these invitees expect to see throughout the day? 

I'm going to be posting videos on and off all throughout the day and answering YOUR questions. It could be questions about Illumine, Obumbrate, myself, random declarations of love, anything. No stone shall be left unturned! 

There is also a tiny rumor running around that I will be hosting the end part of the party/vlogging at the Barnes & Noble in The Promenade Shops of Saucon Valley. This isn't 100% BUT there is a big possibility. I will tell you all for certain if I am going to be there by tomorrow morning around 12PM EST, so keep your eyes peeled! 

Aside from that, I do have another funny post for you guys coming up on Wednesday that's friend related. Let's just say I might make it a habit to start posting more Sh*t My Friends Say segments, since my friends are never-ending buckets of ridiculousness when we're paired together. 

That's it for me for now! I've got a cake to go bake and some vlogs to prepare for. Zoinks. I'll see you all on Facebook tomorrow! 

A Little Bit About OBUMBRATE and ILLUMINE Launch Party Update!

I originally had planned a Valentine's Day blog post on the ups of red hot smokin' love and compare it to broken-hearted/anti-Valentine's day blues, but life sort of got in the way. So to try and keep up with updating my blog on a regular basis I figured I'd show you guys just what I've been up to since my last post!

Big things first! There's a giveaway running on Goodreads right now for a chance to win one of four signed paperbacks of Illumine. And I'm SUPER proud to say that the giveaway has only been up for two days (after them confirming it and all) and at the current moment of this post has 323 people requesting it! Umm, excuse me while I scream bloody murderous glee over that.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

If you haven't entered in it yet, there's still time! Here's the widget.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Illumine

by Alivia Anders

Giveaway ends March 02, 2012.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Next! Kelly from Reading The Paranormal did a review of Illumine and was nice enough to post it on Goodreads! Very nice, thank you Kelly!

Illumine also went up on iTunes and Kobo (FINALLY).

I did an author interview for Megan McDade over at Reading Away The Days! Thank you, Megan!

Alexa over at Pages of Forbidden Love was sweet enough to feature Illumine this past week! Thank you too, Alexa! (PS- Kayden didn't have a Valentine... he did think about bringing you a flower, though!)

And, to save the best for last... I'm hosting an all-day Facebook event in honor of the paperback release of Illumine! If you've never been to one of these before, it's super easy.

Step One- Log on Facebook. RSVP to link.
Step Two- Log on Facebook on day of event, pop in, say hi, participate in games, win prizes and have fun, and do it in whatever you want to! Pjs, costume, birthday suit... (maybe not the birthday suit) but you get the point! RVSPing to the event and showing up the day of is highly recommended. Why? Well, let's just say everyone who shows up will get a beautifully exclusive sneak peek at Obumbrate and its cover!

Well, what are you waiting for?!